Various types of biometric systems are used more and more in order to provide for increased security and/or enhanced user convenience.
In particular, fingerprint sensing systems have been adopted in, for example, consumer electronic devices, thanks to their small form factor, high performance and user acceptance.
There is further an increasing usage of so-called body area networks in which electronic equipment is connected to a network using the body as communication medium. For example, in the medical industry it is has become common to connect e.g. sensors to a patients body for measuring health information from the patient, the information is downloaded via the body area network of the patient. The body area network (so-called BAN) can be used for both downloading information from the electronic equipment and for uploading information to the electronic equipment via the BAN. In order to connect to the BAN, a connection point, e.g. antenna is typically used.
To protect the user, the BAN requires authorization to access the network. This can be implemented by requiring the user to enter a password each time. For higher level of security and a more time efficient way is to implement a fingerprint sensor for authorization.
US2015/0163221 discloses to use a fingerprint sensor for allowing access to a BAN. In US2015/0163221, the BAN system comprises a (yellow) ring which is simply attached to the scanner for connecting to the BAN. An electrode is arranged to detect the presence of a user, to thereby control the BAN to send requests and the fingerprint sensor to start scanning for biometric data.
Although the solution proposed by US2015/0163221 provides for access via a fingerprint sensor there still appears to be room for improvement related to integration of BAN components and fingerprint sensor components and to coexistence of the BAN system and the fingerprint sensor.